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Monday, April 16, 2012

Ladies 2 had a tough task to accomplish to avoid playing relegation games. Not only did they have to win their last two games against Farnborough and Basingstoke (currently second and third in the league), they also had to rely on Ladies 1 to win both their games against the other two bottom teams.

With three new players (two of them on loan from Oxford Brookes and Wimbledon for the day) and some of the regulars not playing in their normal positions, it was going to be an interesting challenge. On court for the day were Helen, Chrissie, Anna, Marika, Jana, Hanna and Giulia.

Oxford 2 v Basingstoke

We needed the first set to find our feet and get to know each other. But it didn’t take long before things starting falling into place. Anna excelled in her new position as setter, and Marika provided flawless back-court defence. We lost the first set by only a few points, but knew we stood a good chance to change things in the second set.

Just as we had hoped, we went ahead early on in the second set and never lost the lead. Helen came on as an outside player and scored some great points, and Jana provided an excellent 6’4’’ block that was hard to get past. We won the second set comfortably 25-13.

The tiebreak was considerably more intense and, at 14-11 to Basingstoke, Neil and injured Tati (who came along as moral support) could hardly sit still. But the team kept calm, and with five excellent serves from Anna, we turned things around and won the game 16-14.

2-1 to Oxford. MVP: Anna.

Farnborough v Oxford 2

Farnborough is an excellent team who know each other very well and pick up practically everything – and today was no different. A solid Oxford block and great cover allowed us to stay in the game, and we lost the first set by only a few points, 22-25.

In the second set, we had some amazing, long rallies with everybody giving it all – Chrissie seemed to pick up all the tips behind the setter, Giulia passed exceptionally and Marika got some great hits in. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to kill the ball, and we lost the second set by at least ten points. Nevertheless, it was probably the best we had ever played and no one could feel disappointed with the performance, even if the result didn’t flatter us.

2-0 to Farnborough. MVP: Hanna

Special thanks to Jana and Marika, who helped us out and were exceptional. Chrissie also deserves a special mention – even though this was her first game with us, her calm and positive attitude made her a natural choice as game captain.